Chapter 2: Trainer meets captor

Ash Ketchum was still upset over his latest loss against Gary. Even after placing in the top 16 in the kanto league and earning a victory in the orange league, he still couldn't beat his rival when they had battled a day ago while ash was traveling to the Johto region. Since the forest they were in had no other distractions, Brock and Misty were getting tired of hearing about it. "That Gary! I'll show him next time!" he exclaimed angrly. "You will," Misty replied, "you just need to train harder". "Yeah Ash, try putting that energy into training instead of complaining" added Brock. Ash was about to retort when Pikachu's ears stood up. Despite the fact that Pikachu was riding on Ash's shoulder, ash noticed his partner's change in demeanor and knew what it meant. "Pikachu senses something" Ash said, and at these words, Pikachu leapt to the ground and ran off the path they were on into the woods, ash and his travel companions followed.

Soon all four of them came to a small clearing. It looked like it was coincidence that the trees hadn't grown as thickly there, rather than an intentionally cleared space. so clearing wasn't quite the right word. In the clearing was a girl lying spread eagled on her back. Ash and company looked at her and noticed that she appeared to be asleep. She was wearing what looked like a traditional school uniform of a black shirt and white skirt, though she had outdoor shoes on. She also had a peculiar pendant in the shape of key with a star for a handle of said key. Brock was staring at the girl dreamily and seemed about to start a prepared speech when Misty grabbed him by the ear and dragged him of. After sternly telling him to wait over by the path. A call of "Pika" brought her attention to another item. Pikachu had found a pink backpack with a "single wing" insignia on it in the bushes next to the girl. "Who is she?" Ash wondered aloud. "And why was she sleeping out here?" Misty added. Ash and Misty checked the backpack, feeling uneasy as they did so since they normally would never get at someone's stuff without permission. All they found was some foreign money and what appeared to be a very fancy diary with the name "Sakura" in gold lettering on it above a two winged insignia with a star in the middle. Looking for more clues, Ash tried to open the diary. "You shouldn't read someone else's diary like that" retorted Misty. "I can't" replied ash, "ts stuck shut. Strangely, there appeared to be no indication of what was holding the book shut. The mysterious girl, who they now guessed was named Sakura, moved in her sleep as if she was dreaming. "We should set up camp and try to help her" said Ash. Misty nodded her agreement.

Sakura was standing in a place she didn't recognize. The scenery seemed indistinct, as if it wasn't the focus of what was there. In front of her stood the black beast that had surpassed the magic of the time card. With its back turned to Sakura it roared at the white and pink being it had fought earlier, which was facing both of them. Sakura was both a part of this situation and detached from it at the same time. The part of her that was in the situation began to turn her key into a wand. The detached part of her wondered what all this meant. Slowly, everything faded.

Sakura slowly began to wakeup. She first noticed that she was in a tent. Based on what she was staring up at. "Pika pi" said a small voice that she didn't recognize . Sakura head footsteps and a boy's voice saying "Hey she's awake". "Keep cooking Brock" chimed in a girl who sounded roughly the same age as the boy. Sakura sat up in time to see a boy and girl coming towards her with worried looks. The boy had blue jeens and a blue sports coat. He was wearing a white and red cap over his black hair and carrying a yellow... plushie? Whatever it was, it had a lightning bolt like tail. The girl had blue short jeans and a yellow shirt that complimented her orange hair.

"Are you ok?" Asked the boy. "Yes" Sakura responded and then added "Where am I?". "You're in between the Kanto and Johto regions" said the orange haired girl. Sakura looked confused, since she was trying and failing to remember those names from geography class. The boy and girl exchanged glances and then realized something. "We forgot to introduce ourselves, I'm Ash" said the boy. "I'm Misty" added the girl. "I'm Sakura" sakura replied. "This is my partner Pikachu" Ash continued, holding up what Sakura thought was a Plushie. "Pika" it said. Sakura jumped back, startled. She tried to sense any nearby magic but found only the book of Sakura cards next to her bed. "Hold on, Pikachu won't hurt you" said Ash. After noticing how no one else was surprised by a 'talking plushie', Sakura relaxed a bit. Then she remembered being sucked into that hole in the sky. Sakura was about to voice concern for her companions when another voice called "Lunch is ready!". "Coming Brock!" replied Misty. Sakura hadn't noticed how hungry she was until just then when her stomach rumbled. She grabbed her book of Sakura cards and followed them.

As they walked over to a table with food set out on it. Misty quietly told Sakura how Brock likes to hit on every girl he sees, but means no harm by it, and Ash told Sakura in a normal voice about his partner Pikachu. Sakura listened silently, feeling timid and thus not wanting to show her confusion. They sat down at the table and began to eat rice balls [Author's note: I know the Pokémon dub calls them donuts, but they are actually rice balls].

After everyone had eaten a bit, Brock looked at Sakura and started to say in a loves truck tone "I think..." but he changed his tone when Misty glared at him "...you're cute" he finished. "Sakura, that's Brock" said Ash. Then, all three of them asked a barrage of questions "So why were you asleep in the forest?" "Why don't you have any pokemon with you?" "What's that diary that won't open". "Umm..." Sakura started to reply, when an explosion and smoke screen came from above followed by a stupid sounding, but still evil laugh.

"To protect the world from Devastation" said a female voice that sounded older then Misty.

"T o unite all people within our nation" added an adult male voice.

"Forget the motto" said a third voice, "just grab that Pikachu and the other pokemon before the smoke clears!"

"Right!" said the first 2 voices together.

Sakura watched and herd all this from behind a tree where she had quickly taken cover after the explosion.

Two people in white uniforms with each with a red R on them fired from a bazooka what looked like a stream of metal claws into the smoke. The claws came back with red and white balls and another came back with Pikachu.

As the smoke cleared, Ash looked angry as he reached for something on his belt, but his expression changed to shock as his hand came back empty.

"Your pokemon are ours!" said the pink haired woman, "thanks to this pokeball snatcher." as she held up the bazooka with the claws starting to retract into it.

"Without them, what can you do?" mocked the purple haired guy.

Ash responded "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" To Sakura's surprise, Pikachu glowed with electricity, but the voltage was absorbed by the machinery, causing the balloon to fly higher.

"We got a hybrid hot air system for out balloon just for this" said what appeared to be a weird cat-like creature, "now Pikachu is helping us escape!".

Sakura had had enough. She couldn't just stand there while her new friends where attacked and robbed. Holding her key in front of her, she began to chant, "The Key that hides the power of the stars, show your true form before me..."

Ash was furious. "You won't get away with this!" he screamed at the retreating balloon. "We already have" came the gloating reply from the balloon, with the claws almost retracted.

"RELEASE!" Sakura finished grasping her wand. Then she looked at her companions faces and felt furious at team rocket. "Firey!" she intoned casting another card above her wand as she did so, "Save my friends and their possessions!" Normally she would have chosen Windy, but those criminals had put her in a fiery mood.

Jessie James, and Meowth were still taunting ash as he raced to keep pace below them, when what looked like a an angel with orange wings and a firey head of hair raced towards them. " Meowth, what's that?" asked James. "I've got no idea but it looks like it's after us" was the response. Fiery shot a wave of fire at the metal connecting the metal claws to the device they were fired from, as the metal stated to melt, James said "We can't lose now, do something!" Jessie grabed a pokeball from her pocket and commanded "Arboc, poison sting attack!". Firey turned and glared at the oncoming stingers and they burned to ashes in mid air. "I think you made it mad!" exclaimed meowth. Firey shot a fireball at Arbock, who ducked so the fireball hit the balloon's gas tanks. After a large explosion, all that could be heard was a faint cry of "Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaain!" Pikachu and the pokeballs were flung away from the blast at odd angles. Sakura noticed this and hurriedly summoned the Windy card to catch them.

As ash ran back to the group, he saw see Pikachu and his pokeballs waiting for him, he noticed Brock and Misty starting behind a tree in amazement. Sakura stepped out from behind the tree holding her wand in one hand and two sakura cards in another. though Ash didn't know any of those items were called that, he did know Sakura looked worried. "Looks like we're rid of them for today" he said, implying that such things were normal for him. From the way he said it Sakura realized that she hadn't overdone her actions and then said "I guess I have some explaining to do" as the wand turned back into a key.